Advertising and Marketing

Advertising and marketing are vast industries that affect all our lives. When a company wishes to sell or improve the sales of its products or services, it may decide to advertise. Newspapers and magazines carry advertisements, as do billboards, television and radio. Marketing is the wider process of creating a product or service, advertising it and selling it.

How does advertising work?

Advertisements use humour and strong images to get our attention. Short, memorable catchphrases called slogans become associated with the product. An advertising compaign often combines posters and television advertisements so that repetition ensures people remember the product.

Public relations:

Many companies use public relations (PR) to improve their standing with the people who buy their products. The two main branches of PR are research and communication. Research tries to find out what people think about the company and its products. Companies communicate with people through press coverage, adveritising and sponsorship.

Marketing:

A company’s marketing strategy includes marker research, product development, publicity, advertising and point of sale displays. The marketing department researches the products people want and works with other department to make sure that prodcts meet the customer’s needs and expectations.

Market Research:

The purpose of market rearch is to find out what sorts of people are likely to buy a product and what will make them buy one product rather than another. Researcher gets this information from interview, questionnaires and government statistics.

Points of Sale:

Shops use posters and display units to encourage people to buy products. Points of sale displays try to catch the customer’s eye where he or she can buy the product immediately. Shop window displays aim to draw customers into a shop.

Advertising Agencies:

Companies use advertising agencies to advise them on their advertising strategy. Advertising agencies conduct market research, plan which forms of media the client’s advertisements should appear in and finally prepare the client’s advertisements.

Storyboards:

The first stage of producing a television advertisement is to present a storyboard of ideas to the clients, showing how the final advertisement will look. A Storyboard looks rather like a comic strip, with a series of pictures showing how the action will run if the client approves the storyboard, production can go ahead.

Production:

The advertising agency hires a production team to film the advertisement. This will include a producer, who supervises the rehearsal schedule, and a director who directs the action when the commercial is being filmed. Once the film has been shot.a sound track is added. The sound track may be voice – over repeating the product name and catchy tune called a jingle.

Advertisement:

Once the advertisement has been completed, it is shown to the client. If the client approves the film, it is taken to the television stations to be aired. Television advertising is by far the most expensive form of advertising, but it is the most effective since it reaches people in their own homes.